Boulton, Watt and Murdoch is a gilded bronze statue depicting Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and William Murdoch by William Bloye, assisted by Raymond Forbes Kings. It stands on a plinth of Portland stone.
It has often been described as Messrs Lee and Longland discussing a roll of wallpaper with a customer and is also known as The Golden Boys after its colour, or The Carpet Salesmen after the partially rolled-up plan of a steam engine which they are examining.
In 1939 an £8,000 bequest from Richard Wheatley, and £7,500 from the City Council, enabled the work to be created and it was unveiled in 1956, from preliminary designs drawn up in 1938. In 1956 the statue was erected temporarily outside the Birmingham Register Office which is where it stood until the statue was restored and re-gilded in September 2006. It was moved into storage on 23 August 2017 to permit construction of the West Midlands Metro. After almost 5 years, the statue was lowered into place on the plinth in Centenary Square outside of Symphony Hall on the 29th April 2022
Matthew Boulton was an English businessman, inventor, mechanical engineer, and silversmith. He was a business partner of the Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.
James Watt was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.
William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) was a Scottish chemist, inventor, and mechanical engineer.
Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten years, spending most of the rest of his life in Birmingham.
The cache
On the front of the Portland stone plinth the birth year and death year for each are listed.
How old was Matthew Boulton when he died = 8A
How old was James Watt when he died = 8B
How old was William Murdoch when he died = 8C
What is the combined ages of the three when they died = DEF
N52°2(B+C).(F-D)(C-E-A)(A+C)
W1°5E.CDB